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DIAMOND

Historic ‘Beau Sancy’ gem for sale in Geneva

Glittering atop a succession of royal crowns, the 35-carat "Beau Sancy" diamond has been witness to 400 years of European history.

Historic 'Beau Sancy' gem for sale in Geneva
Sotheby's

Now the jewel, passed down through the royalty of France, England, the Netherlands and Prussia, could leave its noble past behind when it is sold at auction in Geneva next week.

The gem is being auctioned at one of three multi-million dollar sales over as many days in the city, featuring the jewels of queens, film stars and billionaires alike.

“The Beau Sancy is one of the most fascinating and romantic gems ever to appear at auction,” said David Bennett of sellers Sotheby’s, who estimates its value at $2 million-$4 million.  

“One client I showed it to was moved to tears by it,” he said.

The pear-shaped diamond’s royal connections date back to 1604 when it was bought for Henri IV of France at the insistence of his wife Marie de Medici who wore it atop her crown at her coronation.

Later that century it was acquired by the Dutch and used to seal the wedding of Willem II of Orange Nassau to Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I of England.

Stuart pawned the rose-cut gem to finance her brother Charles II’s fight for the throne.

In 1702 the first king of Prussia gave it pride of place in the new royal crown and it has passed through generations of the House of Prussia until today.

“We’ve sold much larger diamonds but it has this wonderful romantic history, an unparalleled royal history — it has never been in non-royal hands,” said Bennett.

The Beau Sancy will go under the hammer on May 15th as part of Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels” sale, also featuring a historic yellow diamond once the property of Charles Edward Stuart, one-time pretender to the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland.

More commonly known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, his attempts to make the Stuarts regain the crown failed and following the Battle of Culloden in 1745 he went into exile in France and Italy, where he is thought to have offered the 7.3-carat gem to the Corsini family in gratitude of their support.

It has an estimated value of $300,000 to $500,000.

A collection of 70 jewels belonging to billionaire philanthropist Lily Safra is meanwhile expected to raise more than $20 million for charity when it is auctioned by Christie’s on May 14th.

Brazil-born Safra, 77, was married to the Jewish-Lebanese banker Edmond Safra who died in a blaze at his Monte-Carlo penthouse in 1999.

The Elton John AIDS foundation, a water treatment programme in Brazil and children’s hospital in Israel are among 20 charitable institutes to benefit from the sale of the gems, many of them created specially for Safra by renowned Paris jeweller JAR.

A ruby-encrusted camelia brooch is expected to fetch up to $1.5 million and a pair of pear-shaped, 19-carat diamond earclips are worth an estimated $5 million.

On May 16th, Christie’s will host a “Sparkling Jewels” sale featuring a necklace set from the collection of Mexican screen actress Maria Felix (1914-2002) and a diamond once famously refused by Hollywood star and jewellery queen Elizabeth Taylor.

The 23.6-carat brown-orange coloured stone was offered to Taylor by Richard Burton in 1975 while the couple were in Africa, according to Christie’s.

Taylor is said to have refused the gift, arguing that the money should rather be spent on building a hospital in Botswana.

The gem set into a ring is expected to fetch $600,000 to $800,000.

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DIAMOND

Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva

An extremely rare pink diamond will be auctioned in Geneva on November 11 by Sotheby's, which says it is worth between $23 and $38 million.

Rare pink diamond to go under hammer in Geneva
A model poses with the “The Spirit of the Rose” diamond during a press preview on Friday. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Named “The Spirit of the Rose” after a famous Russian ballet, the 14.83-carat diamond mined in Russia is the biggest ever to go under the hammer in its category — “fancy vivid purple-pink”.
 
The occurrence of pink diamonds in nature is extremely rare in any size,” Gary Schuler, head of Sotheby's jewellery division, said in a statement. “Only one per cent of all pink diamonds are larger than 10-carats.”
   
Speaking to AFP, Benoit Repellin, head of fine jewellery auctions at Sotheby's Geneva, said the oval-shaped diamond was “completely pure.”
 
 
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The rough diamond was unearthed by Russia's Alrosa — one of the world's leading diamond producers — in the Republic of Sakha in the northeast of the country in July 2017.
   
Repellin said it took a painstaking year for cutting masters to turn the diamond into its polished form.
   
Sotheby's said the world auction record for a diamond and any gemstone or jewel was the “CTF Pink Star”, a 59.60-carat oval pink diamond that sold for $71.2 million in Hong Kong in 2017.
   
According to Repellin, five out of the 10 most valuable diamonds ever sold at auction were pink.
   
The sale of this gem coincides with the closure of the world's largest pink diamond mine in Australia after it exhausted its reserves of the precious stones.
   
The Argyle mine, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, churned out more than 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds.
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